Holi Special: 7 Tips on How to Make Natural, Homemade Colors
The festival of colour is here! It’s time to start preparing for the celebration of a festival of colours by just getting basics ready at home. There are numerous stores around you from where you can pick up the colours from; they are really not safe for your health as well as for your skin. All those colours contain chemicals and other synthetic agents that can cause irritation, allergies and skin related infections to your skin. We all are aware of this thing but still, we can’t change our habits just because it’s cheap and easy. You don’t need to spend much to get rid of highly amounted chemical contained colours. You can go natural and make your own natural colours at home by just using some simple ingredients which are easily available in your kitchen.
Here are seven tips to help you out in preparing your own herbal colours at home!
- Herbal Gulal
Here is an easy and simple recipe to make a herbal gulal. Take 200gm arrowroot powder, 100gm haldi, 50gm marigold flowers, 20gm orange peel powder (finely powdered) and 20 drops essential oil of lemon or sandalwood. Put all the ingredients into a large plastic mixing bowl or tub and hand mix, rubbing together gently. You will see a beautiful yellow coloured, safe and natural gulal being made.
- Herbal Water Colour
For those of you who would like to play a wet Holi, buy Tesu flowers and soak about 100gm in a bucket of water overnight to get the beautiful saffron colour. You can have the children fill balloons or their water cannons with this safe natural coloured water.
- Shades of Pink
For magenta or shades of pink, beetroot is an excellent agent. Boil a few pieces of beetroot in a cup of water to create dark magenta coloured water. Or you can also keep pieces in the water and let it rest for a few hours for the colour to develop. For dry powder, grind beetroot to make a paste and let it dry in the sun. Mix with besan or wheat flour and use. Hibiscus flower is another good option.
4.For Delightful Browns
Brown is a very uncommon colour, when it comes to Holi celebrations. Boil tea or coffee leaves in water. Cool and use this brown colour to surprise your visitors.
- Saffron Tinge
It’s easy to make saffron, orange or yellow natural Holi colours. For powder, take besan and mix it with some haldi along with a little water. Then leave it in the sun to dry. For watercolours, soak henna leaves in water overnight and use the water to play Holi in the morning. You can also use henna paste.
- Go Green
Yes, you are thinking right. You can use various green leafy vegetable to get the green colour. Spinach is a popular choice and so is coriander leaves. Just make a paste and mix it in water and play!
7. For Glamorous Reds
Red Sandalwood, known to be very beneficial for the skin, can be used to prepare a bright red colour. Shade-dried Hibiscus flowers can also be used for the same.
